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A research team from Kyoto University and University of Strasbourg used drones to investigate the "multilevel societal structure" of the horses in Serra D'Arga, Portugal.
In a multilevel society, individuals are structured in stable groups that build relationships with other groups to form a higher level of organization. People live in a multilevel society where families form a local community that in turn combines with others to form a higher social organization like suburbs and cities.
The phenomenon has been studied in other animals. Multilevel societies in animals can give us insights into how these relationships function, but their mechanisms are still under studied due to a lack of quantitative data. The research team decided to study the social apparatus of horses.
The team set up an observation area for a group of horses. They were able to record the locations of each horse and the exact distances between them with the help of their drones.
They were able to identify 121 individuals within 23 groups and 5 solitary males using the use of drones. "Harems" and "all male "bachelor groups" were used to describe the groups.
The team found that small social organizations exist and they will merge to form higher-level "herds", that bachelor groups stay in the periphery of a herd, and that large harems were more likely to occupy.
In social animals, it is often seen that dominant individuals occupy the center of the group. The data shows that larger harems show their higher status in group relationships.
Maeda says that keeping the bachelors away from the center may reduce the risk of them taking over harems.
The team is excited by the prospect of their new findings, which will encourage them to investigate deeper into the functions and mechanisms of multilevel societies in horses, as well as to utilize their methods to study other social species.
More information: The Scientific Reports identified a multilevel society in horses. There is a DOI titled " 10.1038/s41598-020-79790-1".
Scientific reports are in the journal.
The evidence of societal structure was retrieved from the news of December 27th, 2021.
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